Monthly Archives: February 2012

The excel­lent blogger/videographer Thomas Deneuville came over to my apart­ment a few weeks ago and filmed me playing At the River. There are some nice scenic moments that give you a bit of a Bed Stuy atmos­phere. Be careful to turn your volume down for the begin­ning of the video because there is a VERY INTENSE BOULEZ INTROIT which will scare your cat.

We’re follow­ing this little scandal with interest over here at Andres & Sons Bakery Enter­prises LLC. I can’t seem to bring myself to feel terribly passion­ately one way or another; I think it’s best to approach these situ­a­tions logi­cally. Yes, it’s disap­point­ing when a musician or artist “phones it in”; it’s also incred­i­bly common. People seem to be quite miffed about it, though, so the gracious thing for Golijov to do would be to return most of the commis­sion fee, simply for failing to fulfill his contract (which I assume included language about writing original music). Maybe hold on to a couple grand to serve to compen­sate him as orchestrator/arranger.

It’s a setting of an inscrip­tion by Thoreau, from A Week on the Concord and Merri­mack Rivers. Recorded in live perfor­mance by the young baritone Daniel Schwait (who also happens to be my first cousin!) and my frequent collab­o­ra­tor Tema Watstein on violin.

I am freshly back from an adven­ture in Iowa with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, listen­ing at home to their perfor­mance of Bathtub Shrine. The CD appeared in my dressing room when I went to pack up after the concert. That’s how you should do it, orches­tras!

Over the past couple of out-of-town jaunts I’ve been reading Ishiguro’s The Uncon­soled, at the recom­men­da­tion of my friend Carl Willat. It’s the third of his books I’ve read, and by far the strangest—it pulls off the trick of being fasci­nat­ing and will­fully boring at the same time. What initially drew me in is that it’s about a composer-pianist (!) who visits an unnamed city to give a Very Impor­tant Concert. I’m not implying that my out-of-town expe­ri­ences have been anything like the events in the book (really! Don’t take this the wrong way!) but I know it will resonate with any of you itin­er­ant musi­cians. There are some passing details which I know composers will enjoy, too, such as an extended debate about musical theory in which the theo­ret­i­cal concepts and terms are all fictional. Truly, fun times.

Now it’s back to the grind­stone; looks as though the next few weeks will be free to compose. I have just deliv­ered a new piece to the Cadillac Moon Ensemble, called Trade Secrets; the parts for Old Keys are mailed out; and the wonder­ful Kristin Lee is playing a short piece I wrote for her this week at a Metrop­o­lis Ensemble fundraiser, though the public-at-large will have to wait to hear it.

Which reminds me, hearti­est congrat­u­la­tions to Andrew Cyr and Kate Gilmore, who have just produced a baby boy!